While the present invention was developed for use in moving cargo containers into and out of the lower lobe compartment of an aircraft, and is described in this environment, it is to be understood that the invention can be used in other environments where it is necessary to sharply change the direction of travel of cargo being conveyed by a conveyor system, particularly environments where such a change is needed to make the maximum use of storage space.
While container systems have been developed for loading the lower lobe compartments of wide-body aircraft, traditionally, the lower lobe compartments of standard-sized aircraft have been bulk loaded. That is, in the past, the lower lobe compartment of standard-sized aircraft has been loaded by manually stacking cargo and baggage in the compartment. Manual loading has the disadvantage that it limits the size of baggage to those items that can be manhandled. Further, because manual loading is time consuming, it limits aircraft turnaround time.
While some lower lobe container loading systems have been proposed and implemented in standard-sized aircraft, in the past, such systems have been undesirable for various reasons. Some prior lower lobe container loading systems have been custom designed for compatibility with specialized containers and aircraft configurations. Such systems are, of course, not suited for widespread use. Other prior lower lobe container loading systems have simply consisted of balls and rollers located at the conveyor plane and guides and stops positioned to restrain the containers after they have been moved to a storage position. While such systems allow larger containers to be moved and positioned than those that can be manually lifted, positioning of the containers is still, primarily, the result of manual labor.
Intermodal modules for carrying cargo and/or baggage are being developed. Such modules have a right-rectangular, parallelepiped configuration, i.e., all sides are generally rectangular. The base of such modules is sized for compatibility with trucks, rail cars, shipping pallets, etc. In general, such modules are not compatible with previously developed, specialized aircraft lower lobe container loading systems. In addition, the cardboard construction of some such modules is not compatible with conveyor systems composed of balls and rollers.
As a result, there is need for a lower lobe container loading system for standard-sized aircraft that is generally universal, i.e., can be utilized in a wide variety of such aircraft.
The lower lobe compartments of standard-sized aircraft are loaded through doors located in the side of the aircraft's fuselage, below the deck of the upper (e.g., passenger) compartment. After cargo enters the lower lobe its direction of movement changes by 90.degree. as the cargo is moved along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft to its final destination. Obviously, a lower lobe container loading system designed to receive and position the maximum-sized cargo containers in the lower lobe of a standard-sized aircraft requires a mechanism for changing the direction of container movement by 90.degree. immediately inside of the door via which cargo containers enter and leave the lower lobe. The invention is directed to providing a transfer platform conveyor system that sharply changes the direction of cargo container movement.